


Taking Her Back

by melanie1982



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: Ambiguity, F/M, Implied Relationship, No Sex, hmm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-12
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-12-27 01:58:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12071331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melanie1982/pseuds/melanie1982
Summary: Sarah's ready to go home.Any further summary would be a spoiler





	Taking Her Back

"Take me back, Jareth. Please.."

The King's heart softened enough for him to acquiesce, though it cost him a great expenditure of power.

Sarah closed her eyes, feeling the mists beginning to swirl around her. When she opened them next, she was standing before her own front door.

"Home," Sarah exhaled, scarcely daring to believe. So many things had been other than what they seemed. Trying the knob, Sarah found it solid, and soon she was in the foyer.

The stairs were taken slowly, until Sarah was sure they weren't going to move or change direction; feeling bolder, she took the remaining stairs two at a time.

Which way should she head first? It seemed an important decision. Sarah opted to check on Toby, entering her parents' room, guided by the light from the hallway.

He was sleeping, but Sarah couldn't suppress the urge to scoop him up, cradling his pliant form against her shoulder and chest. She breathed him in, all innocence and milk-breath, savoring it. This moment would melt away so swiftly, in the blink of an eye, in the flap of an owl's wing; Sarah wanted to burn it into her memory, every sense: the feel of his heartbeat against her own, the scent of him, the warmth, the weight, the sound of his breathing. Toby stirred but did not wake, and she placed him back into his crib with a sigh. Waking him wouldn't do, she told herself, tucking in Lancelot beside him, along with the blanket. "Sweet dreams, brother mine," she whispered, turning again to the landing. As she crossed the space, a cloud of her stepmother's cloying perfume washed over her, and she shivered.

Her room was just as she'd left it, everything in it's place. Digging beneath the bed, Sarah retrieved a small wooden box, her fingers gravitating towards her mother's favorite necklace. It was cheap, no more than paste and low-grade gold, but her mother had worn it with style and grace. Sarah felt the clasp click into place behind her neck, the fraudulent gems settling between her budding breasts. "Things aren't always what they seem," she muttered, avoiding her reflection in the mirror, lest it tell her things she wasn't ready to face.

The clock began to chime the hour, and Sarah startled. "So soon?"

She made an impulsive dash to the bathroom, grabbing her robe from the hook on the door and slipping into it as she began to descend the stairs. They began to pitch and sway beneath her, and no sooner had she reached the door than the house began to crumble into dust, leaving dark nothingness in its stead. Opening her eyes, Jareth stared into her face with a mixture of awe and concern.

"I'm sorry, Sarah." She gazed at the image of the two of them in the mirror, her hair beginning to show faint wisps of gray. Was it the back-and-forth, the straddling of the worlds, which aged her, or was it something which would have happened regardless? Sarah always avoided mirrors during her journeys, as seeing her own reflection seemed to cut the trips even shorter. The rules were ever-changing; the robe had vanished, but the jewels remained. Sarah didn't dare try to bring Toby with her, lest he, too, vanish.

She knew he meant it. Jareth gave her all he could, indulging her when he was strong enough to do so. He looked as she felt: tired, worn, and older by the minute. How long had it been since she had truly been part of that world, of that family? 

Jareth held her close, knowing she was still coming to, still feeling the wind whipping against her hair though it had ceased blowing. He wanted to ask why she kept torturing herself with trips back there, and Sarah sensed his question.

"I can't explain it, Jareth. Just, every now and then, for no reason at all, I need them - ALL of them."

Sarah's visits never lasted past midnight; she was never able to see her father, or even her stepmother, towards whom nostalgia and the passage of years had softened Sarah's harsh attitude. 

Jareth knew nothing he said could ease her pain. It was the one area in which his magic would always fall painfully short, the one way in which he would fail her. Life and death in the Aboveground were not in his power.

Sarah lilted into an uneasy sleep, and Jareth knew she would resolve to stay away forever. Who was Sarah Williams? Was she an ordinary girl who had had an extraordinary adventure, or a Goblin Queen who had dared to venture into an alternate reality, to sample what life on earth was like for a teenage girl? 

What was the truth? Either way, the loss of them, the ones she called 'family,' was real enough.

"I know you'll want to go back again, Sarah. Perhaps.. Perhaps if I go with you next time, things will end differently."

Jareth had resisted such a venture so far, lest they both become stuck in that time and place. Then again, would he really want to continue risking being left behind? If she was ever able to stay, would she? What if someone or something else made the choice for her? How could he rule without his Queen?

Jareth knew that love demanded he do all that he could to help her. Each of them knew, deep down, that, sooner or later, she would ask Jareth to take her back once more.

He knew his answer would always be 'yes.'


End file.
